In an earlier post I wondered what was driving Syria and why they don’t just sit back and let things blow over. I postulated Assad was nothing without Iran’s support and that of the Jihadists. M. Simon at Power and Control has some good points along those same lines:

The morale in Lebanon? Low. Few want to die for Hizbollah. Other than the fighters and many people forced to stay on the battlefields to act as human shields.

In Syria the people are agitating to get into the fight. Hizbollah is dying and the Syrian Army is idle. Right now morale and war fever is high. This is good for dictators. It means that when they use harsh measures they will have support. …

That street is going to force him into a war if he wants to maintain his credibility as a strong leader. The only kind that survives in a dictatorship.

M. Simon notes this from a Chicago Tribune article to bolster his point – which appears to be spot on:

Assad’s response has been to ditch all pretenses of reform and appeal directly to the Islamic “street” in Syria and the wider region. That’s when the posters of Assad flanked by Nasrallah and Ahmadinejad became ubiquitous in Damascus.

The myopic expediency of Assad’s move back then is proving to be a long term mistake now. Hat Tip to reader OpinionsAreFree.